internet services leads to a lack of QoS in UMTS

UMTS and Differentiated Services

Yohannes Belayneh, Zemene Markos, Yosef Abera
Email: {yohaness.belayneh, zemene.markos, yosef.abera}@ethiotelecom.et
Abstract Currently the Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System (UMTS) is giving services
to customers which need to have an end-to-end QoS
ensured. Thus there should be a design approach in the
UMTS backbone network to accommodate the needs of
these customers to ensure the delivery of a real time
QoS across the network. This paper presents a review of
how the Differentiated Service (usually referred to as
DiffServ) can be integrated on the UMTS backbone
network in order to ensure QoS. This integration
requires mapping of different services from the UMTS
network to DiffServ and addition of different hardware
and software to accommodate the changes. In this paper
how DiffServ can be integrated specifically for the
UMTS network and how the mapping can be done will
be analyzed and presented.

Key TermsQoS, UMTS, DiffServ, IP,

I.

INTRODUCTION

While considering the GSM (Global System for

Mobile Communications) in this era it is an obvious
fact that the bandwidth in use is increasing drastically
and there are many new applications which need high
bandwidth for operation. One of the enhancements of
the GSM is the General Packet Radio Service
(GPRS) which accommodates these requirements.
Through GPRS, GSM is evolving into the third
generation (3G) cellular network called Universal
Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS).
UMTS is a network- wide standard for 3G based on
GSM communication standard, which provides
access to a wide range of services [3]. In UMTS the
structure is changed to a hierarchical structure as
compared to the previous generations which gives a
separate path for services which in turn ensures that
UMTS is strongly service oriented. When seen from
another perspective the growth of the internet is
forcing networks to adapt architectures and services
available in the internet network. The current trend is
to have Internet Protocol (IP) as an intermediate layer
for all the telecommunication services which make IP
as the major transport protocol in UMTS networks
with all its advantages and drawbacks.
Although using IP as a transport protocol in UMTS
networks has its own advantages, the lack of QoS in

networks too. Thus all the services are treated in the

same way so that there is no differentiation between
services which need high priority and those that can
endure greater time delays.
In addition to this the integration of QoS into these IP
based UMTS networks is a challenging task as the
two networks are separate and are using different
architectural mechanisms[1].
1.1. QoS
Quality of Service (QoS) is the mechanism insuring
that a service can be delivered to the end user in an
acceptable time-frame and that the service properties
are stable over time within predefined boundaries [2].
Thus when seen from networking point of view, QoS
can be defined as a mechanism in which some
parameters of ensuring quality are defined and the
network works towards keeping these parameters in
range without the use of additional resources or
increase in bandwidth over the network.
In traditional GSM networks, as they are circuit
switched networks, the QoS is highly defined as there
are dedicated lines available end-to-end not only
during times of transmission but also during idle
times which highly decreases the efficiency of the
network. In UMTS networks using packet switching
technologies, QoS requirements should be handled
carefully in order to address and utilize the
advantages of the packet switched networks over
their circuit switched counterparts.
1.2. UMTS QoS Architecture
As it is discussed with QoS in different literatures,
End-to-end QoS means that the evaluation of the
service is done from the end-user perspective [2] [4].
The end user could be a terminal or even another 3G
network. The end-to-end QoS UMTS requirement
implies that QoS management is needed in all
involved domains: wireless domain, IP core, external
IP network.
As defined by Third Generation Partnership Project
(3GPP) UMTS relies on a layered Bearer Service
(BS) architecture, where each layer is using the
services of the layers below while providing its
services to the layers above, as shown in the bearer
architecture diagram of Figure. 1. According to [5], a
bearer service is a service which provides the
capability for data transmission between usernetwork access points. Each bearer service is defined
using its QoS parameters, which define such things as
traffic type, bit rates, error ratio.

2.

Figure 1: UMTS QoS Architecture

The entities involved the UMTS packet data
architecture which provides QoS services are the
following [2]:
The User Equipment (UE) is the UMTS
terminal. Mobile Terminal (Mobile
Terminal) and Terminal Equipment (TE)
are the functional blocks of the UE. MT is
the part which interfaces with the wireless
domain, being responsible for handling of
radio signals. TE provides the user
interface and the application.
The Radio Access Network (RAN)
provides the interface to the core network
and can be composed of Base Stations
(the UMTS evolution of the GSM Base
Transceiver Station) and the Radio
Network
Controllers
(the
UMTS
evolution of the GSM Base Station
Controller). The BSs task is to transmit
data over the radio interface to and from
the MT and to interface with the RNCs.
The Core Network Edge Node (CN Edge
Node) provides the interface between the
RAN and the packet switched core
assuring
session
and
mobility
management.

The CN Gateway connects the packet

switched core network to external networks. It
maintains the routing information necessary to tunnel
the packet data between the networks, has mostly
functions typical for gateways in IP networks.
1.3. DiffServ
Differentiated Services (DiffServ) is an IP-based
QoS technology which attempts to solve the QoS
problems without making any resource
reservation for flow establishment and

maintenance [4]. The control is based on

DiffServ Code Point (DSCP) which is contained
in the IP header which dictates the routers on
how to handle traffic differentiation.
The main advantage of the DiffServ architecture
is its simplicity. On the other hand, as all the
flows with the same DSCP value are seen as a
single flow with an unique per-hop behavior
(PHB) DiffServ provides just relative QoS, in the
sense that that the QoS for one flow depends on
the behavior of other flows.
UMTS QoS Requirements
The UMTS QoS general requirements define the
constraints the set of attributes characterizing the
QoS should meet.
The QoS mechanisms have to allow efficient
use of radio capacity and efficient resource
utilization
It should allow independent evolution of
core and access networks
The UMTS network should be evolved with
minimized impact on the evolution of
transport technologies in the wire line
networks
The overhead and additional complexity
caused by the QoS scheme should be kept
reasonably low, so as the amount of state
information transmitted and stored in the
network
The QoS behavior should be dynamic, i.e., it
should be possible to modify QoS attributes
during an active session

When defining the UMTS QoS classes the

restrictions and limitations of the air interface have to
be taken into account. The QoS mechanisms provided
in the cellular network have to be robust and capable
of providing reasonable QoS resolution.
There are four different QoS classes:
- Conversational class
- Streaming class
- Interactive class and
- Background class.
The main distinguishing factor between these QoS
classes is how delay sensitive the traffic is:
Conversational class is meant for traffic which is very
delay sensitive while Background class is the most
delay insensitive traffic class.
Conversational and Streaming classes are mainly
intended to be used to carry real-time traffic flows.
A table showing the QoS classes for UMTS is shown
below:
Table 1: UMTS QoS Classes

In accordance with this, the main challenges that the

UMTS QoS architecture has to overcome are:
Translation parameters and mechanisms
-service differentiation based on a set of
traffic classes needs a simple and reliable
translation mechanism between the different
domains involved.
UMTS QoS Management - The network
should be monitored and managed to assure
the implementation of the user agreements.
Negotiation and modification of the QoS
available from the network should be
possible.
End-to-end QoS has two dimensions: a vertical one
which refers to the mapping of high level bearer
service attributes into lower level bearer service
parameters and a horizontal one which implies
translation of the QoS attributes and QoS
management mechanism between the domains.
Table 2 presents the UMTS Bearer Service
parameters for each class.
Table 2: QoS attributes in UMTS Bearer Service

2.1. Network level QoS Translation management on

the wireless interface
The control plane structure for and end-to-end IP
QoS management is shown in figure 2.
As can be seen, to manage the end-to-end QoS there
are two extra components in the control plane: IP BS
(Bearer Service) Manager and P-CSCF (Proxy Call
State Control Function).
The IP BS manager is used to control the external IP
bearer service. To interact with UMTS Bearer

Service, the IP BS Manager leverages the Translation

Function to map the mechanisms and parameters
used within the IP bearer service to those used within
the UMTS bearer service. As can be seen there are
two IP BS Managers; one in the UE (User
Equipment) one in the Gateway (the Gateway might
be a GGSN). The IP BS Managers in the UE and the
GGSN could communicate with each other using
relevant signaling protocols.
The P-CSCF is a mobiles first contact point for IP
multimedia sessions. It is essentially a local SIP
server which includes Policy Control Function (PCF).
The PCF is a logical entity for policy decision, which
conforms to the policy framework defined by IETF
and coordinates the applications with the resource
management in IP layer.
In the UE the application layer requirements are
translated into the IP Bearer Service requirements by
using application specific mechanisms. By using the
Translation function the IP BS Manager translates the
IP specific QoS mechanisms into the PDP Context
properties. By using the service of the underlying
bearer service managers the UMTS BS Manager
sends the PDP Context request to the UMTS BS
Manager serving the Gateway. As the external
network is an IP based network the PDP Context
information is translated back into the IP Bearer
Service properties using the Translator functionality
residing in the Gateway. The Translator functions
need information about mapping between the UMTS
and the external IP QoS.

Figure 2: Control plane for end-to-end IP QoS

management
2.2. Network level QoS Translation management on
the external network interface
If the external IP network is DiffServ enabled then
the Translator should be connected to a Service Level
Agreement (SLA) repository. The SLA is a contract
between the provider of a service (in this case the
external IP network) and the customer (the UMTS

network) which specifies the services offered to the

customer.
Both edge and core DiffServ routers use to be
supported in order to implement DiffServ. The
DiffServ mechanism is scalable and it can be
implemented with long term setup. With a special
marking in the packets IP header based on DiffServ
code points, it is possible for routers inside the
network to process the packet flow. The packets with
the same code points operate with forwarding
behavior PHB (Per-Hop Behavior) inside the domain.
DiffServ defines three classes: expedited forwarding
(EF), assured forwarding (AF) and best effort.
Figure 3 shows the mapping of the DiffServ classes
to the UMTS QoS classes depending on the type of
service class. The advantage of this mapping is the
absence of extra signaling along the path.

groups according to predefined rules. The Traffic

Marker sets the value of the DSCP (Differentiated
Services Code Point) field so that the packet receives
appropriate PHB. The Traffic Meter measures the rate
of traffic streams selected by the classifier and Traffic
Sharper may drop packets if there is not sufficient
buffer space. The traffic classes, traffic policies and
associated Access Control List (ACL) are configured
by the edge routers.
3. Conclusion
This paper summarizes the concept behind using
DiffServ with UMTS networks in order to ensure
end-to-end QoS requirements which is the
requirement encompassing the path from the sending
UE to receiving UE. This can be achieved by the
integration of the IP network with DiffServ routers
enabled and mapping the traffic classes in the UMTS
QoS to the DiffServ classes. The points summarized
in this paper can be verified using simulations and
case studies which are beyond the scope of this paper.
REFERENCES

Figure 3: Mapping of DiffServ classes to UMTS QoS

classes
The DiffServ routers do not have to store any state
information of the flows. These routers consist of
following components: Packet Classifier, Traffic
Marker, Traffic Meter and Traffic Sharper.
The Packet Classifier performs the identification of
incoming packets and their separation into several

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Artech House, 2002
[2] Claudiu Chioariu. QoS in UMTS. Helsinki University of
Technology Seminar on Internetworking 2004, T -110.551
[3] 3GPP TS 22.060 v6.0.0. Technical Specification Group
Services and System Aspects; General Packet Radio
Service (GPRS); Service Description, Stage 1
[4] 3GPP TS 23.107 v6.0.0. Technical Specification Group
Services and System Aspects; Quality of Service (QoS)
concept and architecture
[5] Timo Halonen, Javier Romero and Juan Melero. GSM,
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